What If Your Audience Is Too Old For Blogs?

"Our target audience is too old for blogs. They're too old for Tweeter (sic). They're too old for Facebook. I don't see our audience reading blogs."

At those words my ears perked up. I grabbed my cup of coffee and sauntered swaggered strode into the conference room where a couple of my co-workers were meeting with a prospect who came in to talk about search engine optimization for their site that targets women over 40.

"Do you mind if I add my .02?" I asked. Since I made and served coffee to our guests already, they may have felt indebted to me, but in any case they asked me to continue.

"Blog posts are just like Web pages; each blog post you create is another opportunity to rank well at the search engines. You don't have to worry whether your audience reads blogs, just if they use the Internet and search engines. (And I assume you do believe that, otherwise you wouldn't have an e-commerce store.) Your blog posts can attract that search traffic and either funnel the prospect to your site or we can e-commerce right to your blog itself.

"According to some recent surveys the fastest growing segment in Facebook is women 35 and over. A lot of 'grandmas' are joining Facebook because that's where they can see their grandkids' photos. The average age of someone on Twitter is 31 (which means a lot of people are older).

"A strategic combination of search engine optimization and social media marketing (along with some hard work) can definitely increase the quantity and quality of traffic coming to your Web site. Plus, with social media you can better engage your audience and get feedback from them on what your next products should be.

"You might end up being a little ahead of the curve for some of your audience, but better to be a little ahead than behind."

Not sure if I convinced them, but if you're concerned that your audience is too old for a blog or social media, perhaps you're underestimating your audience. Or, perhaps you need to find another audience.

Rich Brooks
Maine Business Blogs

Comments

[David Miller]

That scenario is pretty much which I encounter most of the time whilst helping out people/clients. Most of them have the impression that blog is something that is only used by people between the age group of 10-25 and that older people don't even know what blogs are but as the statistics you have given prove that the avergae age of blog users are in the 30's. If used correctly it is indeed a very powerful of method to affect SERPs and drive more targetted traffic.

[Kaye Swain]

Very interesting article. I really enjoyed reading it when I got your email.

My blog is for the Sandwich Generation senior home care giver and grandparent. Most of my readers are probably in the Baby Boom Generation but some are, of course, older and younger. As an encouragement to others, I wanted to share that it's wonderfully amazing how many senior adults are online and not just to see grandkid pix, though you are totally right that we're doing that OFTEN :)

You also made an excellent point about being ahead of the curve. Many of us "grew up" with computers. We were in our late 20s when the first home computers hit and it was my dad-in-law who introduced us to them in the first place. Which means there are plenty of seniors who are much older than me who are still using them. And plenty more coming right after me. We just have to figure out ways to increase the print size, work easier with arthritis, etc. :)

[Julie Bavington]

Well said! Thanks for the input/reminder of why we do what we do with these blogs and such. ;) Keep it up! @juliebavi